'Cancer has been metastasizing': CPAC treasurer's resignation letter doesn't hold back

A top official in the organization that organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference has resigned over alleged financial uncertainty involving the group's leader, according to a report.

Longtime treasurer Bob Beauprez stepped down Tuesday from his role at the American Conservative Union, saying that he was not fully informed about payments for chairman Matt Schlapp's legal defense against a sexual assault lawsuit and detailing a lengthy list of shady practices involving the organization's leader, reported New York Magazine.

“A cancer has been metastasizing within the organization for years,” Beauprez wrote in his resignation letter. “It must be diagnosed, treated, and cured, or it will destroy ACU/F. You simply cannot survive like this.”

Veteran GOP staffer Carlton Huffman accused Schlapp in January of repeatedly groping him while they were campaigning together last fall for Senate candidate Herschel Walker. The ACU chairman denies the allegations.

The ACU's executive committee advanced $50,000 to Schlapp days after the lawsuit so he could retain an attorney, but Beauprez said he was blindsided when Schlapp said he had raised another $270,000 from ACU donors and the related foundation ACUF, and he was shocked again when the organization's lawyer told him in February that the money had already been dispersed or invoiced.”

Beauprez told a March board meeting that he had been given no status updates or summaries of expenditures regarding Schlapp's personal liability insurance carrier or anything else related to his legal expenses, and he said that he was accused of disloyalty when he tried to do his job.

“However great our sympathy, we cannot avoid our fiduciary responsibilities," he told the board. "A few of us have sought answers to some of what seem to be obvious and necessary questions. As a result, we have been accused of ‘not having Matt’s back’ and ‘trying to stage a leadership coup.’”

The treasurer also said the organization could face serious legal jeopardy as a result and accused Schlapp of breaking ACU rules by taking control of when the board could meet, and he complained in his resignation letter that Schlapp had brought in a friendly GOP operative Frank Sadler, instead of a certified public accountant, as finance director.

“I have to admit that I feel like I’m in the dark,” Beauprez told the board. “I have received no further information about what additional costs have accrued since then … I assume any monies paid are either coming from Matt personally or from ACU/F. But, again, I don’t know, and it is most unsettling.”